CHAPTER 11

¹And all Israel gathered round David and Hebron, saying, “Look, your bone and your flesh are we. ²Time and again in the past even when Saul was king, you were the one who led Israel into the fray, and the LORD your God said,

‘It is you who will shepherd My people Israel,

and it is you who will be prince over My people Israel.’ ”

³And all the elders of Israel came to the king of Hebron, and David made a pact with them in Hebron before the LORD, and they anointed David as king over Israel according to the word of the LORD through Samuel. ⁴And David went, and all Israel with him, to Jerusalem, which is Jebus, and there the Jebusites were, inhabitants of the land. ⁵And the inhabitants of Jebus said, “You shall not enter here.” And David captured the stronghold of Zion, which is the City of David. ⁶And David said, “Whoever strikes down the Jebusite first shall be chief and commander.” And Joab son of Zeruiah went up first and became chief. ⁷And David stayed in the stronghold. Therefore did they call it the City of David. ⁸And he built the city round the rampart all around, and Joab restored the rest of the city. ⁹And David grew greater and greater, and the LORD of Armies was with him.

¹⁰And these were the chiefs of the warriors who were David’s, joining forces with him in his kingdom with all Israel to make him king over Israel, according to the word of the LORD. ¹¹And this was the count of the warriors who were David’s: Jashobeam son of Hachmoni, head of the Thirty. He brandished his spear over three hundred slain at a single time. ¹²And after him Eleazar son of Dodo the Ahothite. He was among the Three Warriors. ¹³He was with David at Pas-Dammim. And the Philistines gathered there for battle, and there was a plot of ground filled with barley, and the troops fled before the Philistines. ¹⁴And they took their stand within the plot and held it and struck down the Philistines, and the LORD wrought a great victory. ¹⁵And three of the Thirty went down at the head to the rock to David at the cave of Adullam while the camp of the Philistines was deployed in the Valley of Rephaim. ¹⁶And David then was in the stronghold, and the Philistine prefect was in Bethlehem. ¹⁷And David had a craving and said, “Who will give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate?” ¹⁸And the Three broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate, and they bore it off and brought it to David. But David would not drink it, and he poured it out in libation to the LORD. ¹⁹And he said, “Far be it from me before my God that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood of these men who have risked their lives? For at the risk of their lives they have brought it.” And he would not drink it. These things did the three warriors do. ²⁰And Abishai brother of Joab—he was the chief of the Three. He brandished his spear over three hundred slain, and he had a name with the Three. ²¹Of the Thirty he was the most honored and so he became their commander, but he did not attain to the Three. ²²Benaiah son of Jehoiada son of a valiant man great in deeds from Kabzeel—he struck down the two sons of Ariel of Moab, and he went down and killed the lion in the pit on the day of the snow. ²³And he struck down an Egyptian man, a man of daunting stature, five cubits tall, and a spear like a weaver’s beam was in the hand of the Egyptian. And he went down to him with a staff and stole the spear from the hand of the Egyptian and killed him with his own spear. ²⁴These things did Benaiah son of Jehoiada do, and he had a name with the three warriors. ²⁵Of the Thirty, he was honored, but he did not attain to the Three, and David put him over his royal guard. ²⁶And the warriors of the forces were Asahel brother of Joab, Elhanan son of Dodo from Bethlehem, ²⁷Shammoth the Harorite, Helez the Pelonite, ²⁸Ira son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, Abiezer the Anathothite, ²⁹Sibbecai the Hushathite, Ilai the Ahohite, ³⁰Maharai the Netophathite, Heled son of Baanah the Netophathite, ³¹Ittai son of Ribai from Gibeah of the Benjaminites, Benaiah of Pirathon, ³²Hurai from the wadis of Gaash, Abiel the Arbathite, ³³Azmaveth the Baharumite, Eliahba the Shaalbonite, ³⁴the sons of Hashem the Gizonite, Jonathan son of Shageh the Hararite, ³⁵Ahiam son of Sacar the Hararite, Eliphal son of Ur, ³⁶Hepher the Mecherathite, Ahijah the Pelonite, ³⁷Hezro the Carmelite, Naarai son of Ezbai, ³⁸Joel brother of Nathan, Mibhar son of Hagri, ³⁹Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Berothite, armor bearer to Joab son of Zeruiah, ⁴⁰Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, ⁴¹Uriah the Hittite, Zabad son of Ahlai, ⁴²Adina son of Shiza the Reubenite, chief of the Reubenites, and by him the Thirty. ⁴³Hanan son of Maachah, and Joshaphat the Mithnite, ⁴⁴Uzzia the Ashterathite, Shama and Jeiel sons of Hotham the Aroerite, ⁴⁵Jedaiael son of Shimri and Joha the Tizite his brother, ⁴⁶Eliel the Mahavite and Jeribai and Joshaviah sons of Elnaam, and Ithmal the Moabite, ⁴⁷Eliel, Obed, and Jaassiel the Mezobaite.